Number of people crossing Channel in small boats hits new high

The number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel has hit a new record for the first six months of any calendar year.

Home Office figures show 257 people made the journey in four boats on Sunday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 12,901.

The previous record for arrivals in the six months from January to June was 12,747 in 2022. In the first half of 2023, arrivals stood at 11,433.

The 2024 total to date is 17% higher than the number of arrivals recorded this time last year (11,058) and up 8% on the same period in 2022 (11,975).

Last year a total of 29,437 people arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in small boats, down 36% on a record 45,774 in 2022.

More than 3,000 arrivals have now been recorded since the general election was called on 22 May (3,019), with immigration a key campaign battleground.

In the last six and a half years, as the recent migration crisis unfolded, 127,246 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel, data recorded since the start of 2018 shows.

A total of 82,265 people have made the journey since the government struck the stalled deal to send migrants to Rwanda in April 2022.

The tally of crossings since Rishi Sunak, who pledged to “stop the boats”, became prime minister in October that year is nearly 50,000, now standing at 49,964.